A Life Unplanned (17 page)

"Trent?" we both shouted at the same time.

"Tyler?" I tried. We started down the hall to his office, and I nearly lost it.

"Jeb, get back here and call in backup!" McKenna yelled.

He came running back, I was sure expecting a showdown or something, but all he saw was a shattered cell phone, a toy and a book on the floor. "What's going on?" he looked between us.

"That's Trent's cell. He'd never leave without it," McKenna answered.

"That's Tyler's favorite book. He takes it everywhere. He would've had a fit and made Trent stop to get the book if he could. Someone took them."

"Do you have security cameras?" Jeb asked McKenna.

"Yes, they're required for security purposes, since we have prescription drugs onsite."

"Clara, Brian and I are here!" I heard Maylene call to us from the front of the office. I ran to her crying. "What is it? What happened? Where are Trent and Tyler?"

"We don't know, but we're going to check the security cameras."

I was a mess, and I could tell Maylene wasn't much better. McKenna was kind enough to take Katie from me, who was crying just as much as I was and didn't know why.

We held our breath, as we watched Trent walk back into the empty office about six o'clock, most likely just after his meeting over in the hospital with the board, because the office closed at six. He looked up, and we saw him meet Maylene at the door with Tyler, where she kissed him goodbye, and we watched as my sweet little boy talked to his attentive father. They were walking back to his office, when they stopped suddenly in the hall. Trent pushed his son behind him and then put his hands up. He must have been instructed to hand over his phone, because he threw it down. He was pissed, and Tyler was crying. I was wishing there was sound. A woman finally stepped into view. She was holding them at gunpoint.

"Holy shit," Brian swore. He whipped out his phone and called his wife. "Get me all the known addresses for Tiffany, honey. She's taken Trent and Tyler."

I knew then that I might never see my boys again.

Chapter 21- The Other Side

We all watched with baited breath, as Tiffany slid a file over to Trent. She seemed to get more erratic and agitated by the minute. My heart jumped every time she pointed her gun at them, because she was mainly pointing it at Tyler. It was obvious she was threatening my son's life.

Trent pulled a pen out of his doctor's coat pocket and quickly started signing the papers, as he knelt on the floor. She started yelling at him, jabbing the gun closer in his direction, and he held his hand up to show he was complying.

She rushed him and kicked him over, and then she roughly yanked Tyler from behind him. Trent went to take a move towards them, but she jammed the gun in my baby's temple. I gasped through blurred tears, not wanting to watch, but too scared to look away.

She started yelling at him again, and I was wishing once more there was sound. Trent gathered up the papers he'd signed and moved toward the door that connected with the hospital. He turned, and it looked like he was trying to calm Tyler. Tiffany snapped at him again, and he put his hand up once more, trying to calm her and show his compliance. He wasn't gone for more than a minute. He was slightly winded, so you could tell that he'd run.

His state seemed to piss Tiffany off more. He pointed to the phone at the front desk, and she hesitated but then nodded. She must have insisted it be on speaker, because she covered Tyler's mouth, and we watched as Trent spoke to someone.

It was obvious when he hung up, because he was quick to try and approach her, pleading with her to give him Tyler. It seemed to upset her even more. He was begging for his son's life, and since I knew the full background story, I knew why that was pissing her off so much. Trent was on his knees, and Tiffany looked from him to the exit several times. I didn't think she had planned that far ahead. She nodded toward the exit while holding the gun to Tyler, and Trent quickly complied. We watched in horror, as she walked them out the door and turned out of sight toward the parking lot.

We had no clue where they had gone or even what they were driving. They were gone. Maylene and I both lost it, becoming a couple of crying messes. We were startled when Officer Jeb shouted, "HOG SHIT!" and ran out the door. We followed him out past the parking lot and across the street. He pounded on the door of a residential home. "Jack, do you have your hog shit footage from earlier this evening?"

"The hogs don't come until the middle of the night or early in the morning."

"But are your cameras running? Are they recording already? Do you have footage from 6:00pm to 8:00pm?"

"Yeah, I should."

"Dr. Carrington and his son have been kidnapped from his office, could we please see the footage?"

Jack's eyes about popped out of his head. "Why the hell didn't you say that in the first place?" he shouted, as he hurried down the hall.

When he opened the door to his study, I was taken aback by the wall-to-wall monitors. He quickly pulled up a camera that wasn't aimed at the office or the parking lot, but it did catch part of the exit and the street to the left. Jack pulled up the footage and paused it, when the car pulled up to the exit and checked to see if it was safe to pull into traffic. It wasn't a rental car. The license plate was clearly visible, and we watched as they did in fact turn left and head toward the edge of town.

Jeb had written down the plate and called it in, while Jack pulled up a second set of cameras. I watched as he caught the edge of the white car several times, as it progressed down different streets and finally exited town on the highway. I watched Jack, hoping he had a second set of cameras to pull up that would follow them, but the next set of cameras he pulled up were all forest floor. There was one that caught the edge of the highway.

"This one is just past Mills Road. If they don't pass it, then we know they're still closer in. It'd cut down on our search radius," Jack explained. He upped the speed, fast forwarding carefully to present time. "They haven't passed it. She has to have them somewhere before that point. I'll watch the camera to make sure she doesn't and let you know if my other cameras come up with anything else, but they're all in the national forest. They don't cover any of the private land or cabins."

"Thanks, Jack, you narrowed our search considerably." Jeb got right to ordering the search to begin. The state had to be notified about the missing person. They were the ones who owned and maintained the big search equipment, such as helicopters. They called in police from the close neighboring towns to help with the search. Because it was an armed and dangerous person, they wouldn't allow civilians to assist in the search.

For being a cop in a small quiet town, Jeb sure knew how to run things with a smooth, precise calm.

"Check other family names!" Brian snapped into his phone before he hung up. "She hasn't found anything under Tiffany's name in the area."

It was then I heard McKenna say, "It was coerced at gunpoint. It can't be valid! I don't care if there are journal entries! You can't seriously be accepting his resignation. I don't care if his confession was notarized. It's bullshit!"

"I want copies of those papers," Jeb and Brian both said at the same time.

~*~

Eighteen hours.

It had taken eighteen hours for them to find them. There was so much dense forest, they weren't making much headway. It was only when Kelly called back and informed us that Brittney Marks, Tiffany Turner’s sister, owned a small piece of land nearby, giving us a lead on where to look. The reason it took so long to find the name Brittney Marks was because Marks was her married name, and she was deceased. It turned out Tiffany had a twin sister named Brittney, and from what Kelly had gathered, Tiffany had assumed her identity to buy the property just before Brittney was killed in an accident that claimed both her and her son's life.

The kicker?

Trent Carrington had been listed as Michael's father, not Brittney's husband, Calvin Marks.

I waited at the emergency room doors of the hospital, pacing back and forth. They were bringing them in by ambulance. Tyler was okay, but Trent had been shot. They didn't say where.

My dad was holding a fussy Katie. She was having a very rough couple of days, since her mommy had been a crying mess. My mother was trying to settle me down, so I could feed her. Roger coaxed me to take care of the baby, promising he and Maylene would stand post at the door like they already were and would let me know as soon as the ambulance turned into the parking lot.

I had just finished feeding Katie, when I heard Roger say, "There's a cop car with lights on coming in."

I passed the baby over to my mother and rushed to the door, just in time to see an officer take Tyler out of the back seat.

Tyler cried and reached for me the moment he laid eyes on me. I was quick to reach them and nearly punched the officer, when he hesitated to hand me my son. Someone behind him must have given him the okay to release him, because he did and then ushered me inside to have him checked out. It was only when we sat down on an exam bed that I saw his little shirt was splattered with blood. "Are you hurt?"

Tyler saw I was looking down at his shirt and started crying for his daddy. A short quiet man walked in with a smile and a teddy bear in his pocket. "Would you like me to give him something to help settle him down? I don't want to traumatize him anymore by examining him. The paramedics did a preliminary check, but said that he was knocked back and hit his head pretty hard. Do you mind if I take a look?"

I cuddled Tyler to me and settled him down enough for Dr. Gregory to poke around Tyler's head and back. The doctor was able to do a full examination on him and deemed him healthy. He gave us an ice pack and a list of what to watch for.

I went back into the waiting area, but only my dad was there with Katie. My mom, Maylene and Roger were gone. "Where is everyone?"

"They brought Trent in. He's in surgery. It's a different waiting room. I'll take you there, but mom suggested I take the kids to Maylene's house. She was worried about little Katie and all the germs."

I didn't want to part with my daughter, but my mother was right. It would only take one unvaccinated sick child to walk through those doors to threaten my daughter's life. She was too young to be protected. I eyed the coughing child who was sitting one row over, waiting to be seen, and I prayed it wasn't whooping cough.

"Take her home and give her a bath. Can you do that?" I realized I'd never asked my dad to bathe one of the kids.

"Yeah, I think I can handle it. Maylene has a basket of baby stuff in the kids' bathroom. I'll just make sure I use that."

He carried Katie, and I carried Tyler. As soon as we stepped into the waiting room, we were swarmed by grandparents, hugging and kissing Tyler. I didn't think I could part with Tyler. He'd had all his shots. I didn't think he'd be able to handle being separated from me, I wasn't sure I could handle it.

When they settled down, I asked about Trent.

"He was shot three times," Roger answered. "They have him in surgery, but we won't know anything for another few hours, when they're done working on him."

I gasped and swayed. How on earth could he survive three gunshot wounds?

My mother ushered me to a seat. I sat, stunned. Tyler stayed curled on my lap. I didn't know how long we were waiting, but it had to have been a while, because my father called and asked if I could come feed Katie.

"Clara, why don't you go to my house and feed the baby and put the children down for a nap. I'm sure you could use a meal and a nap," Maylene suggested, pushing the hair away from my face.

"But Trent-"

"Won't likely be out of surgery for several more hours. He'll be so upset if he finds out you aren't taking care of yourself."

Roger stepped forward and lifted Tyler from my lap. Maylene leaned in and whispered, "It'll be good to get Tyler home and to bed. I'm sure he's exhausted."

I looked up at my little boy curled in Roger's arms. It was obvious he needed to go home. I also knew he wouldn't go without me.
Roger walked us out to his car. I hadn't ever spoken much with him. I think this was the first time we'd been alone.

"I'm sorry, I'm taking you away from the hospital," I apologized.

"It's alright. I'm sure it'll be a while before we hear anything."

I stared out the window; wishing time would speed up and make Trent be safely out of surgery and recovering quickly.

"I want to thank you," Roger said breaking the silence.

"For what?"

He smiled. "For giving my son a second chance and welcoming us all into your life, you've made my wife very happy. That means a lot to me."

I settled into the guestroom at the Carrington's house and had my kids tucked on either side of me. I fed Katie and settled Tyler down to sleep. I was determined to stay awake, so I could go back to the hospital, but that wasn't what happened.

"Sweetheart?" I heard my mother whisper. She tapped my cheek. "Honey," she hissed.

I squinted one eye open at her.

"Trent is expected to be out of surgery within the next half hour."

My eyes popped wide, but she stopped me from moving too fast. She gently scooted Tyler to the far side of the bed and handed me Katie. I was starting to feel like a bottomless milk jug. "Just top her off, and I'll take care of the kids. Dad is going to drop you off at the hospital and then come home and help me. Be sure to keep me updated."

When I arrived at the hospital, I was surprised to see a woman in a suit fighting with Roger, Brian and McKenna.

"He was under duress, his resignation was not valid!"

"All the same, he was removed from the health insurance plan, and you'll need to come up with a payment plan," the woman explained.

"Absolutely not, I'm his lawyer, and he'll be fighting it. He 
will
 be covered."

"Sir," she addressed Brian nervously, "I was aware of the situation and went directly to the hospital board for direction, and they confirmed that he was no longer employed and sited that he would not be rehired because of the signed affidavits."

"Again, they were signed under duress!"

"I know, Sir, I'm so sorry, but you'll have to take it up with the hospital board."

A short woman came striding in and handed over a folder. "Here's a copy of the papers Trent signed. I also have a few other documents as well. There are two women filing against him for assault."

"Do they have names, times and dates?" I asked interrupting them.

"Specifics don't matter, we need to discredit the notary and counter the journal entries. He didn't do anything, Clara. I've known Trent for over a decade now, and he'd never-"

"I know, but if the accusations took place while he was in college, I can prove they were willing participants."

"How so?" Brian asked, as he flipped through the papers. I didn't answer right away, because I realized his parents were listening in. "They do take place during his college years. If you can help, I need to know now."

I looked up the hall, where I imagined Trent was being worked on, and I hoped he'd forgive me for telling them about his video collection. He'd had it for a very long time and had kept it a secret for a reason. "If you have names and dates, I can get you videos."